Before I was elected to the Alabama Senate, I had always thought about creating a simpler tax structure for Alabamians. My analysis began with a potential policy change toward a flat tax. Initially, I had the notion it had the potential to solve Alabama’s budget troubles. By moving to a lower flat tax gradually, excess […]

(Audio above: Cliff Sims interviews Congressman Bradley Byrne) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Wednesday on Yellowhammer Radio, Representative Bradley Byrne (R-AL1) announced he is rolling out a plan to require Congress to renew each government agency every ten years, rather than allowing agencies to operate in perpetuity without having to justify their existence. Inspired by his time […]

(Above: Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL2) introduces an amendment to the VA funding committee report) WASHINGTON — Alabama Congresswoman Martha Roby is laying the groundwork for a plan that would give the Secretary of Veterans Affairs authority to take over operations when a local VA is chronically underperforming. The scandal-plagued Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would allow medical marijuana to be used as a treatment for certain conditions. The committee’s 4-3 vote marked a major milestone for medical marijuana advocates who have repeatedly tried and failed to advance legislation during past legislative sessions. Under the bill, […]

WASHINGTON — Conservative Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions (R) on Tuesday applauded presidential hopeful Scott Walker (R-WI) for his recent statements on the possible dangers of allowing too many immigrants into the country during a time of already depressed wages. “(W)e need to make sure… that any future legal immigration system that goes forward has to […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The director of the state parks, Greg Lein, disseminated a memo Wednesday morning announcing that the state parks will remain open “until further notice.” Earlier this month the director and Governor Bentley announced that 15 of the state’s 22 parks would close on May 1st if the legislature passed a budget making […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Yellowhammer has obtained a memo Gov. Bentley sent to state lawmakers Tuesday afternoon detailing what the administration believes will happen if the legislature chooses to make cuts, rather than raise taxes. The memo is as death and doom as it gets, predicting the EPA will take over the Alabama Department of Environmental […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Senate on Tuesday passed a resolution expressing its intention to not expand Medicaid, and urged Gov. Robert Bentley to refrain from pushing for such an expansion. “The state should pursue reforms based on reducing Medicaid dependence, rather than increasing dependence,” the resolution states. “Expansion of Medicaid would further strain the […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — In spite of cutting more than $1 million per year from his office’s budget, Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh (R-Anniston) is now coming under fire for giving his chief of staff Philip Bryan a $40,000 raise. The Pro Tem, the most senior post in the Alabama Senate, has the ability to […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — State Senator Bill Hightower (R-Mobile) announced a flat income tax proposal Tuesday that would substantially lower the state income tax to only 2.75 percent, but get rid of every state “deduction, credit, exception, and incentive.” Hightower argues his plan would make the tax code much simpler, leaner, and more easily enforceable without […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — As we head into another presidential election season, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill is teaming up with the state legislature to ensure every eligible voter in the state has the means to go to the polls. Sec. Merrill has asked state legislators to provide three separate dates and times, as well […]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — World-renowned meteorologist and Alabama legend James Spann will be the master of ceremonies at the inaugural Yellowhammer Power & Influence reception taking place the evening of Friday, May 29, 2015, at Birmingham’s Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa, Yellowhammer Multimedia announced on Monday. For the last four years, Yellowhammer News has […]

GULF SHORES, Ala. — While the Bentley administration mulls closing down 15 state parks this summer if tax increases are not passed, developments that could make those parks more profitable and self-sustaining are being held up by environmental groups. Two Alabama state parks, Gulf Shores State Park and Oak Mountain State Park, have attempted to […]

WASHINGTON — Two Alabama members of Congress from different parties are teaming up to sponsor a workforce development bill focusing on filling 2 million jobs across the country with skilled American workers over the next decade. Workforce Development Tax Credit Act, which was reintroduced by Reps. Bradley Byrne (R-AL1) and Terri Sewell (D-AL7) last week, […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — With all the talk of tax hikes here in the Yellowhammer State, the folks over at statistics blog fivethirtyeight.com have the answer for a question many folks have been asking: How does Alabama fund its state government? According to the Census Bureau data they used in their calculations, Alabama collects $1,900 for […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A state senator is accusing the Bentley administration of using state employees to spread fear among elderly Alabamians by telling them their services are in imminent danger of being cut unless legislators support the governor’s tax increase proposals. The governor’s office says the calls are not scare tactics, but rather an attempt […]

On Friday, conservative talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh praised Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) for being one of the leading opponents of Loretta Lynch, President Obama’s nominee to succeed Eric Holder as U.S. Attorney General, declaring that Sessions is “the one who’s making the most sense about this.” During one of Lynch’s confirmation hearings earlier this […]

(Audio above: Cliff Sims blasts the Bentley Administration’s threat to close state parks) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — “I’m just going to say this as plain and simple as I possibly can,” Yellowhammer Radio host Cliff Sims declared during the second segment of the show Friday. “The Bentley administration’s threat to close state parks around the state […]

GUNTERSVILLE, ALa. — When the news broke that 15 state parks may close this summer, State Senator Clay Scofield (R-Arab) immediately jumped into action. In 2012 Alabama voters passed a constitutional amendment appropriating $15 million a year over the next 20 years to the Alabama Forever Wild Land Trust from the oil and gas trust […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — With Alabama’s General Fund Budget facing an estimated $270 million shortfall, one Republican lawmaker wants to incentivize state government employees to find ways to slash spending. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) plans to introduce a bill next week that would give the department heads of government agencies a bonus tied to what percentage […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Governor Robert Bentley (R-AL) is touring the state warning voters that 15 of their beloved state parks could be closed if they don’t pay more in taxes, but at least two members of the State Legislature are working behind the scenes to make sure that doesn’t happen. A letter from State parks […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted Thursday to repeal the Estate Tax, commonly known as the “Death Tax,” which takes nearly half of the estate of anyone who leaves more than $5.4 million in a will. Reps. Robert Aderholt (AL4), Mo Brooks (AL5), Bradley Byrne (AL1), Mike Rogers (AL3), and Martha Roby (AL2) cosponsored the […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A new report from State Auditor Jim Zeigler shows the state is missing approximately $211,000 in state-owned equipment and property, including 179 tazers bought in 2006 by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, then known as the Department of Public Safety, worth $137,000 that were damaged in shipping. “These damaged tasers date back […]

(Video above: Rep. Gary Palmer questions Dr. Judith Curry during a committee hearing on climate change.) WASHINGTON — Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL6) on Wednesday said he believes the Obama Administration has resorted to “unconstitutional executive overreach” to implement its global warming agenda in direct defiance of the people’s representatives in Congress. During a committee hearing […]